Recent Blog Posts
Hidden Assets Hurt the Divorce Process
When a couple divorces, there are a number of issues to be considered. Spousal maintenance, child support, custody/visitation, and division of assets must all be negotiated to an extent by the court presiding over the proceedings. Many of these subjects can often turn contentious, as the relationship between divorcing partners deteriorates. This, unfortunately, can lead to one party to manipulate the circumstances in such a way that the divorce agreement disproportionately benefits that person. One way in which this might be attempted is by hiding financial or other assets from the other spouse.
Hiding assets can be serious problem, as many determinations in a divorce agreement are dependent on the financial situation of each spouse. Often including cash, bonds, mutual funds, stocks, and bonds, assets which are not disclosed to the court may affect resulting orders related to alimony (called spousal maintenance in Illinois) and child support. As such, a spouse intentionally hiding or disguising financial resources not only commits a serious crime, but also can negatively the impact the well-being the couple’s children.
Study Finds Link Between Bad Marriage and Bad Heart
If you are stuck in a bad marriage, you may be suffering from a broken heart – literally. A new study has concluded that there is a link between living in an unhappy marriage and dealing with heart disease.
Previous studies which suggested such a link were all lab-based. This new study, which was funded by the National Institute of Aging and recently published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, was the first population-representative research to confirm these findings. The research team was made up of sociologists from the University of Michigan and the University of Chicago.
The study examined data collected for the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project. The data used was taken over a period of five years from 1,200 married men and women. At the beginning of that project, the ages of participants ranged in age from 57 to 85 years old. Not only did participants answer questions regarding the quality of their marriage, but they were also asked questions regarding their cardio-health and subjected to lab tests over the five years of the project.
Many States Fail to Make the Grade in Shared Child Custody Statutes
The National Parents Organization (NPO) recently announced its 2014 Shared Parenting Report Card. This report details the first national study which gives an extensive overview of each of the 50 states and their standings when it comes to child custody. Specifically, the study examines each state’s degree of encouraging of shared parenting following a couple’s divorce or separation.
Surprisingly, courts have not made the great strides when it comes to shared custody plans as many people think they have. According to the report, custody is granted to the mother in approximately 80 percent of child custody cases, even though numerous studies have overwhelmingly proved that children do much better emotionally, physically and socially when both parents are heavily involved in their daily life.
The research team analyzed data from all the states; however, they were only able to assess data of children born to unmarried parents in 45 states. These states have laws that address both children born into marriage, as well as children born out-of-wedlock. In the remaining five states which do not have statues that address children born to unmarried parents, the team was only able to assess the information of child custody cases between married parents. In their report, the researchers point out that, according to the most recent U.S. Health and Human Services statistics, almost 40 percent of children are now born to unmarried parents.
Post-Divorce Check List
Once a divorce is granted, there are still many things a person has to do to ensure all official and/or legal connections with their now ex-spouse are taken care of. The divorce decree ends your marriage, but you still need to make contact with various entities to ensure that your ex-spouse no longer has access or benefit of things to which they are no longer entitled.
The best way to do this is to make a list of the particulars you will have to change. Some of the items that may be on your task list include:
- All testamentary documents that you have drafted will need to be updated. Make sure you change the beneficiaries on any will and trusts you have, otherwise your ex-spouse would still be able to inherit your assets and property if something should happen to you.
- If there are any other entities where your spouse is named beneficiary, those should be changed as well. You will want to remove your ex-spouse as a beneficiary from insurance policies, bank and stock accounts, and any other financial accounts you may have. The only time this should not be done is if the divorce settlement says differently. For example, if you are paying spousal support, the judge may have ordered you to keep your spouse as a beneficiary on a life insurance policy for the duration of your alimony obligation. There may also need to be changes made to retirement accounts, such as a partial roll over into one spouse’s name, depending on the divorce settlement.
Hold on Tight: Tips for Surviving the Holidays as a Blended Family
Although many strive for a personal rendition of the idyllic Norman Rockwell holiday when the winter season comes, those facing the challenges of a blended family may only revisit feelings of loss, sadness and even anger, often emotions associated with a recent divorce or remarriage.
Noted professionals offer numerous suggestions to ease the tension between blended families during the holiday season.
Fran C. Dickson, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Communication at Eastern Kentucky University and featured contributor to Communications Currents, a publication of the National Communication Association, offers the following advice to blended families as means for exhibiting better behaviors throughout the holiday season.
Bridging the Generation Gap
Dickson believes that the best way to avoid disagreements over holiday expectations or visiting schedules between the younger family members and their elders is to present clear and concise expectations. This advice may also serve custodial parents who plan on interrupting an ex-spouse’s child visitation schedule to suit personal holiday expectations or planned family events.
The Power Within Marriage: Tips for Maintaining a Balanced Marriage
Ike and Mamie, Franklin and Eleanor, Ron and Nancy, Bill and Hillary are all examples of power couples who have made their mark on America’s political landscape. How do these political front runners, as well as other industry power couples, maintain marital balance and avoid consulting with a high power divorce attorney?
As per a recent article published by The Huffington Post, power couples tend to do marriage a bit different than the rest of us, although their marital strategies may offer some helpful hints for all marriages.
Brainstorming Together
As noted in The Huffington Post article, Microsoft entrepreneur Bill Gates mentioned that he highly values wife Melinda’s opinion, both on a professional and personal level. By doing so, he is eliciting the opinion of a partner who has his best interests in mind or one who will actually tell it like it is.
Divorce By Publication
If you need to end your marriage but cannot locate your spouse, a divorce by publication may be the answer.
In order for any court to act, it must have jurisdiction over both the case and the parties. In Illinois family court, a judge has jurisdiction over a divorce if the couple was legally married and at least one spouse resides in the state. The court must also have personal jurisdiction.
Typically, this means each party has filed a written document with the court or has formally waived service of citation.
Substitute Service
It is not at all unusual for a person to relocate to another address without leaving any contact information, even if the person has a spouse. A divorce can still be granted in these situations, at least under some circumstances.
To obtain service by publication, the respondent’s current whereabouts must be unknown and the petitioner must have been "diligent" when trying to find the missing spouse. While the petitioner does not need to hire a private investigator or go to great lengths to find a missing spouse, the court does require some concerted effort:
How Do Teens Handle Parents' Divorce?
Statistics show that by the time they turn 16 years old, almost half of all teenagers will have experienced their parents divorcing. Fifteen percent of teenagers will deal with divorce more than once because of parents’ remarriages and subsequent divorces. For teens of unmarried parents, 25 percent will experience their parents’ breakup.
Adolescence can be an extremely emotional and difficult time. For many teens dealing with their parents’ divorce, the feelings are similar to coping with a death in the family and they will show all the signs of grieving. These feeling can especially intensify during special events and holidays.
Signs that a teenager is struggling with difficult emotions about the divorce include aggressive behavior, guilt, and anger. Physical signs include any changes in sleeping or eating habits, complaints of frequent headaches and stomach aches.
Protecting Inheritances in Divorce
For the majority of people who get married, the assumption is that it will be "’til death do us part." Despite the high rate of divorce, most couples think they will beat the odds and live happily ever after. Typically, all the assets a couple acquires during the marriage are pooled – income, gifts, inheritances, etc. are all shared between the two spouses. The reality is, however, that at least half of marriages do end in divorce, with an even higher rate if the marriage is a second or third marriage.
Most divorce negotiations involve how finances and property will be divided between the couple, but what happens with the inherited assets? Unfortunately, in many circumstances, unless there was an agreement in place before the divorce, those assets just may be included in the marital estate. A person may be able to keep that expensive piece of jewelry their grandmother left them, but the value of that piece becomes part of the marital estate and the other spouse is entitled to receive something of equal value in their share of the marital estate. The same may be true for inherited real estate property, stocks and bonds, and cash.
Establishing Joint Custody Routines to Ease Split-Family Tensions
Recently, Fox News Magazine revisited the question, "do 50 percent of marriages really end in divorce?" Unfortunately, the answer is still a resounding yes. Not only does this startling statistic involve the couple, but as numerous studies support, divorce often has a life-long effect on the children struggling with the breakdown of the family.
So how can both parents work together to ease the child’s anxiety during this transition? If you and your separating spouse have been discussing joint custody with your respective divorce attorneys, there are ways to establish a successful "kid shuttle" plan.
DK Simoneau, speaker and award winning author of the children’s book, "We’re Having a Tuesday," offers several ways of assisting a child cope with a split-family lifestyle. As a divorced mother of two, Simoneau has become a strong advocate of making the hectic split-family syndrome less hectic. The following are just a few of her suggestions:
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